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THE STATE
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 |
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TO: |
Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee |
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FROM: |
Johanna Duncan-Poitier |
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SUBJECT: |
Proprietary Colleges in New York State – Higher Education Data
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DATE: |
August 31, 2006
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STRATEGIC
GOAL: |
Goals 1 and 2 |
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AUTHORIZATION(S): |
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SUMMARY
Issue for
Discussion
A review of
higher education data requested by members of the Committee.
Reason(s) for
Consideration
For information
Proposed
Handling
The Committee
will discuss data relating to higher education in areas such as enrollment,
student characteristics, performance, degrees awarded, finances and faculty.
This discussion will be a prelude to discussing draft regulations concerning
admission requirements and the definition of developmental and remedial courses
later this year or early in 2007.
Procedural
History
At its May
2006 meeting, the Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee received
a report from the Department concerning how proprietary colleges are approved
and evaluated in New
York State.
Within that report, the Department advanced five recommendations, three of which
related specifically to proprietary colleges and two of which related to all
colleges in New
York State. The Regents endorsed the five
recommendations, four of which require regulatory action to implement.
At the May
meeting, members of the Higher Education and Professional Practice Committee
requested additional data concerning the proprietary sector, and comparable data
for the other three sectors, to inform their later discussion of draft
regulations concerning recommendations four and five. Specifically, staff was
asked for data concerning enrollment, student characteristics, persistence,
transfers, graduation rates, degrees awarded, finances and faculty
characteristics.
Background
Information
Over the last
few years, the Office of Higher Education has established a risk analysis
approach in its review of institutions of higher education. This performance
driven strategy allows the Department to focus on those institutions where
students could potentially be at risk. Indicators that the quality of education
at an institution could be compromised include, but are not limited to, rapid
change in enrollment, low graduation and/or persistence rates, student
complaints, sudden changes in the proportion of students receiving State and
federal aid, proportion of students admitted through an ability-to-benefit
provision, and indexing tuition to the amount of State and federal aid made
available.
Through this
approach, a number of proprietary institutions were identified for review and,
in some cases, undercover investigations were conducted to determine whether
institutions are complying with their own stated admission procedures and the
Commissioner’s Regulations.
Based upon a
number of visits and undercover investigations that took place, significant
violations were found, and in one instance, fraudulent practices were
identified. The Regents asked the Department to fully examine how the Department
approves new institutions to become proprietary colleges in the State and how
those institutions are regulated under the Commissioner’s Regulations.
The May
report to the Committee provided a full review of the history and process for
approving proprietary colleges in New York State and advanced five
recommendations that related to both proprietary colleges and all colleges. The
five recommendations are:
1.
Require
a transition period before new higher education institutions in New York State are given final authority to award
degrees to ensure that standards of quality are upheld and students are
appropriately served at proprietary colleges during periods of transition. This
recommendation would also limit any expansion during the provisional
period.
2.
Require
that the sale of degree-granting proprietary institutions in New York State be approved by the Education
Department prior to purchase and that the new owners demonstrate capacity to
meet the education and fiscal standards to operate the institution before
ownership is established. Regents approval of the transfer of degree authority
to the new institution and/or owner will still be required.
3.
Endorse the
Department’s legislative strategy to enhance the capacity to monitor the
proprietary sector to ensure high standards of educational quality, protect the
public’s investment, and to take action in cases where institutions are out of
compliance and students could be at risk.
4.
Clearly
define and differentiate remedial and developmental coursework from
credit-bearing college coursework to ensure that students are appropriately
prepared to succeed and to graduate.
5.
Strengthen
admissions policies. Ensure prospective college students, especially those
without a high school diploma or GED, have accurate information on the college,
job placement, and/or transfer opportunities necessary to make educated
enrollment decisions.
The Regents
endorsed the five recommendations and directed the Department to begin to draft
regulations concerning recommendations one and two relating to the awarding of
degree authority for proprietary colleges and the sale of proprietary colleges
in New York
State. Those draft regulations will be before
the Committee for discussion in October.
Draft regulations concerning recommendations four and five relating to
admission requirements and the definition of developmental and remedial courses
at all institutions of higher education will be developed and advanced to the
Regents for discussion later this year or in early 2007. The third
recommendation addresses the Regents legislative strategy concerning the
monitoring capacity of the Department and does not require regulatory
action.
After the
Regents endorsed the recommendations, a memo was sent to the four higher
education sector leaders (SUNY, CUNY, the Association of Proprietary Colleges
(APC) and the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu)) and
all College Presidents and/or Chief Executive Officers of Colleges and
Universities in New York State asking for their comments/input on the
recommendations. The comments received in response to that memo are being taken
into consideration in the drafting of the proposed regulations.
This report includes the data requested
by the Committee concerning all four sectors of higher education which will
inform the Committee’s discussion on recommendations four and five later this
year.
Recommendation
N/A
Timetable for
Implementation
N/A
A Review
of Higher Education Data
Comparison
of the Four Sectors of Higher Education
New
York State Education Department
Office
of Higher Education
Office
of Research and Information Systems (ORIS)
Coordinator, Office of
Research and Information Systems (ORIS), Glenwood
Rowse
Table of
Contents
Institutions of
Higher Education
Table 1 - Degree-Granting
Colleges and
Universities.........................................
1
Table 2 - Off-Campus
Locations (In-State).......................................................
2
Table 3 - Geographic
Distribution....................................................................
3
Enrollment and
Student Characteristics
Table 4 - Fall Final
Degree-Credit Enrollment by Proprietary Institution............... 4
Table 5 - Degree-Credit
Enrollment Growth by Institutional Sector.....................
5
Table 6 - Full-Time
Fall Enrollment Shares by Race/Ethnicity and Gender........... 6
Table 7 - Part-Time
Fall Enrollment Shares by Race/Ethnicity and Gender.......... 8
Table 8 - First-time
Students by Sector and Level...........................................
10
Table 9 - Admissions of
First-Time Applicants by Attendance Level..................
12
Performance
Table 10 - Persistence,
2004........................................................................
14
Table 11 - Transfers
from Two-Year to Four-Year Institutions.........................
15
Table 12 - Graduation
Rates - Less-than-Baccalaureate.................................
16
Table 13 - Graduation
Rates - Baccalaureate.................................................
17
Table 14 - Ten Year
Graduation Rates..........................................................
18
Table 15 - Putting the
Pieces Together, Associate and Baccalaureate Graduation Rates 19
Degrees Awarded
by Sector, Race/Ethnicity and Gender
Table 16 -
Associate.....................................................................................
20
Table 17 -
Baccalaureate..............................................................................
21
Table 18 -
Master’s......................................................................................
22
Table 19 -
Doctorate....................................................................................
23
Table 20 -
First-Professional.........................................................................
24
Finance
Table 21 - Tuition and
Fees...........................................................................
25
Table 22 -
Undergraduate TAP, Pell and Federal Loans by Sector...................
26
Table 23 -
Undergraduate TAP, Pell and Federal Loans by Sector and Level.... 27
Faculty
Four-Year
Institutions
Table 24 - Full-Time
Faculty..........................................................................
29
Table 25 - Part-Time
Faculty.........................................................................
30
Table 26 - Full-Time
Shares of Faculty...........................................................
31
Two-Year
Institutions
Table 27 - Full-Time
Faculty..........................................................................
32
Table 28 - Part-Time
Faculty.........................................................................
33
Table 29 - Full-Time
Shares of Faculty...........................................................
34
New
York State
Degree-Granting Colleges and
Universities
Sector
Descriptions
Highlights
Institutions of
Higher Education
v Table 1: New York State has 271 degree-credit colleges of
which 42 (15%) are proprietary colleges, 146 (54%) are independent institutions,
64 (24%) are State University of New York (SUNY) colleges and 19 (7%) are The
City University of New York (CUNY) colleges. Most proprietary colleges are two-year
colleges (70%) while most of the public and nonprofit private colleges (60%) are four-year
colleges.
v Table 2: Coursework is offered at over 1,600
off-campus locations in the State greatly increasing the accessibility of higher
education. On average, proprietary
colleges have less than one off-campus location each, while independent colleges
average seven off-campus locations, CUNY colleges average five, and the SUNY
colleges average 16 off-campus locations.
v Table 3: While proprietary colleges are present
in every region of the State, they are more concentrated in New York City than are
public or independent colleges.
Over 40% of proprietary college campuses and 70% of their enrollments are
in New York
City.
Overall, one third of all of the State’s colleges and 40% of the total
higher education enrollment are in New
York City (3% of SUNY’s enrollment, 100% of CUNY’s
enrollment and 44% of the independent sector’s
enrollment).
Enrollment and
Student Characteristics
v Table 4: Proprietary colleges enrolled just under
50,000 students in 2005 out of the total higher education enrollment in the
State of 1.14 million students.
Proprietary colleges are typically quite small, ranging from 38 to 6,070
students in fall 2005. Half of
these colleges had fewer than 500 students and only three had more than 3,000
students. Most proprietary college students attended full-time
(86%).
v Table 5: Proprietary colleges have experienced
much greater relative growth in the last ten years than have the other
sectors. Between 1995 and 2005,
enrollment increased 8% at public colleges, 15% at independent colleges, and 75%
at proprietary colleges.
v Tables 6-7: In 2005, the proprietary colleges and
CUNY each enrolled relatively high proportions of Black and Hispanic students
(52-49% of their full-time enrollments respectively) compared to SUNY and the
independent colleges (15-16% of full-time enrollments respectively). All sectors enrolled a similar mix of
men and women (53-62% women among full-time students and 61-65% women among
part-time students respectively).
v Table 8: The college-going rate of New York State high school graduates has been
increasing. The percentage
enrolling instate increased from 66.9% in 2000 to 72% in 2002. The percentage enrolling in other
states also increased from 12.9% to 14.5% resulting in an overall college
going rate in 2002 of 86.5%.
Approximately 3%
of New York high school graduates enroll in
New York
proprietary colleges soon after they graduate from high school compared to 35%
for SUNY, 11% for CUNY, and 23% for independent colleges. The highest proportion of out-of-state
students are in the independent sector while CUNY shows the highest percentages
of foreign students. In four-year
and two-year colleges, SUNY, CUNY and the proprietary sector enroll 90% or more
New York
State residents as compared
to the independent sector which enrolls 65% in its four-year colleges and over
90% in its two-year colleges.
v Table 9: Proprietary colleges report similar or
slightly higher acceptance rates for full-time students compared to the
statewide average. In 2004, 81% of
associate program applicants at two-year proprietary colleges (as compared to
90% for SUNY, 86% for CUNY and 58% for the independent sector) and 72% of the
baccalaureate program applicants at four-year proprietary colleges were accepted
for full-time study (as compared to 50% for SUNY, 38% for CUNY and 53% for the
independent sector).
Performance
v Table 10: At four-year colleges, 80% of full-time,
first-time students persist or are still enrolled at the beginning of the second
year. This rate is similar for SUNY
(80%), CUNY (78%), and independent colleges (82%) but somewhat lower at
proprietary colleges (61%). In two-year colleges, 61% persisted in 2004,
statewide, compared to 61% at SUNY, 62% at CUNY, 45% at independent colleges and
57% at proprietary colleges.
v Table 11: Substantial numbers of students transfer
to four-year institutions without receiving an associate degree. In 2003, almost 23% transferred from
SUNY two-year colleges, 29% from CUNY two-year colleges and 62% from independent
two-year colleges. Only about 6% of students in proprietary colleges transfer to
four-year institutions without receiving an associate
degree.
v Table 12: In 2004, average graduation rates from
associate programs (within 3 years at the initial institution) at proprietary
colleges (30.7%) were above the statewide average (24.4%). This is in comparison to the three-year
graduation rate of associate degree programs for SUNY (26%), CUNY (11%) and the
independent sector (37%). However, because the proprietary sector has very few
of its students still enrolled after three years (3%), its graduation rate does
not increase much after a longer time period. Other sectors have higher
percentages of students continuing to work toward a degree after three
years. On average, approximately
25% of program entrants are still enrolled at CUNY after three years. Therefore,
when reviewing graduation data, transfer students and the extended graduate
rates must be taken into consideration.
v Table 13: In
2004, approximately 48% of proprietary college students graduated from
baccalaureate programs within six years at their initial institution compared to
61% statewide. This is in
comparison to the six-year graduation rate for SUNY (59%), CUNY (39%) and the
independent sector (66%). Only 2% of the students in the proprietary sector are
typically enrolled after this six year baseline period. Only, CUNY has a higher rate than
proprietary colleges with, on average, 10% still enrolled.
v Table 14: A portion of students at SUNY and CUNY
take longer than 150% of program length to earn their degree. Over 10% of students take 4 to 10 years
to earn their associate degrees (at their initial institution) and an additional
3% of baccalaureate program students earn a degree after their sixth year. Data is not available for the
proprietary and independent sectors because too few of these institutions report
this data.
v Table 15: To fully measure graduation rates, it is
important to include all paths to obtaining a degree. It is estimated that, when we combine
graduation at the initial institution in the traditional time period with those
who take longer and with those who transfer in-state and receive a degree, at
least 52% of associate program students and 72% of baccalaureate program
students eventually receive a degree somewhere. The rate is actually higher as some
students will transfer out-of-state and receive degrees.
Degrees
Awarded
v Table 16: The proprietary colleges awarded over
10,000 associate degrees, or 17% of the 59,000 awarded statewide in
2004-05. Consistent with the
enrollment growth in the sector, this was a 70% increase from 1999-00. SUNY awarded 30,959, CUNY 9,639 and
independent colleges 8,609 associate degrees in 2004-05. The number of degrees awarded by these
sectors increased from 6 to 14%, considerably less than in the proprietary
sector. Almost two-thirds of the associate degrees went to women in all sectors.
v Tables
17-20: Of the 110,305 baccalaureate degrees awarded statewide in
2004-05, 28,690 were awarded by SUNY, 15,349 by CUNY, 63,536 by independent
colleges and 2,730 by proprietary colleges. The majority of all graduate degrees
were awarded by independent colleges.
The proprietary colleges awarded 423 master’s degrees compared to 9,186
by SUNY, 6,944 by CUNY, and 45,257 by independent colleges. SUNY awarded 753 doctoral degrees
compared to 298 by CUNY and 3,041 by independent colleges. Independent colleges also awarded the
majority of the first-professional degrees awarded statewide. Of the 8,866 first-professional degrees
awarded, 975 were by SUNY, 144 by CUNY, and 7,747 by independent colleges.
Finance
v Table 21: On average, the proprietary sector has
the highest undergraduate tuition and fees among two-year institutions. In 2005-06, the average at two-year
proprietary colleges, at approximately $12,000, is almost four times that in the
public sector ($3,181 at SUNY and $3,093 at CUNY). The average is also higher than at
two-year independent colleges ($9,822). At four-year institutions, the averages
were $5,877 at SUNY, $4,309 at CUNY, $20,754 at independent colleges and $14,597
at proprietary colleges.
v Table 22: Average TAP aid per recipient for each
sector reflects differences in the income distribution of students attending
each sector. The average in 2003-04
was $1,984 for SUNY, $2,768 for CUNY, $2,849 for independent colleges, and
$3,936 for proprietary colleges. Thus, relatively more students in proprietary
colleges have low incomes and consequently receive more TAP aid than in any
other sector.
In 2003-04,
federal loans averaged $3,876 per undergraduate at proprietary colleges compared
to $4,547 at independent colleges, $1,612 at SUNY colleges, and $488 at CUNY
colleges.
v Table 23: Four-year proprietary college students
are heavy users of student aid.
About 50% of undergraduate students in the proprietary sector received
TAP in 2003-04 compared to between 31%-41% in the other sectors. Similarly, about 56% received Pell
compared to between 26%-36% in the other sectors. In 2003-04, federal loans averaged
$4,314 per undergraduate at proprietary colleges compared to $4,573 at
independent colleges, $3,018 at SUNY colleges, and $710 at CUNY colleges. Two-year proprietary college students
also have a larger percent of students using student financial aid than do the
other sectors. Approximately 60% of
undergraduate students received TAP compared to about 23-50% in the other
sectors. About 80% received Pell
compared to 23-65% in the other sectors.
For two year colleges, in 2003-04, federal loans averaged $3,621 per
undergraduate at proprietary colleges compared to $3,195 at independent
colleges, $583 at SUNY colleges, and $167 at CUNY
colleges.
Faculty
v Tables
24-26: In 2005, there were 43,758
full-time faculty and 38,853 part-time faculty at four-year colleges
statewide. Thus, 53% of the faculty
were full-time for all institutions.
In the four-year proprietary sector, 24% were full-time, as compared to
SUNY (57%), CUNY (44%) and the independent sector (55%).
v Tables
27-29: In 2005, there were also
6,789 full-time and 13,078 part-time faculty at two-year colleges. Thus, 34% of the faculty were full-time
for all institutions. The full-time/part-time distribution still differs by
sector but not as much. The share
of faculty working full-time was 33% at SUNY, 39% at CUNY, 46% at independent
colleges, and 30% at proprietary colleges.
The percent full-time declined substantially between 2001 and 2005 for
proprietary colleges, grew substantially for CUNY and was relatively stable at
SUNY and independent colleges.
